Orpheus

Odilon Redon, Orpheus,1903-10, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

Odilon Redonartist of the 1900s, is one of the greatest names of the symbolist movement. Abandoning a realistic representation of the world, the artist sought poetic verisimilitude. An artist of dreams, flowers and dreamlike microcosms, this pastel on brown paper is typical of his work.
Here, the figure of Orpheus, musician and poet god, is suggested by a light magenta red outline to which the curves of the Cordylines respond. The blue-covered statice evokes the lyre of the god who appears to be dozing. Orpheus is bathed in an imaginary, flowery landscape, irradiated with coloured surfaces evoking the shades of the bouquet: pink, violet and yellow. Like a yellow stain floating in an atmosphere of carmine reds, Orpheus is evoked by the single two-tone Chrysanthemum Fuego. Behind it is a colourful ballet of purple and garnet red carnations and lisianthus, with golden buds reminiscent of the few anigozanthos. In the distance, a cumulus cloud inlaid with pottery pink echoes the subtle wax of the bouquet.
The house of Apollo and the Muses stretches out under a sky of coloured pink tablecloths animated by fiery pale mauve surfaces like the lisianthus, carnations and wax. In this bouquet, our florists convey the image of an indeterminate and lyrical world similar to that of Redon's pastels.

Aquarelle's artisan florists and the Ecole du Louvre have collaborated to create a capsule collection of flower bouquets inspired by the works of art of the master painters.
In the same way that a painter uses canvas, paint brushes and paints for their creation, our florists have conceived and composed the bouquets of the collection with a fresh floral colour palette.
They apply the same approach, using similar gestures to create a unique and personal creation.
The aim? To put art at the heart of the everyday, in order to discover or rediscover paintings through bouquets which translate the colours, style and spirit of the artwork.

Height of the bouquet : 50/55 cm
Painting : Odilon Redon,Orpheus,1903-1910
photo credits : IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo